Math Games

We love playing math games!!  This is a great game for the beginning of school but one that they love doing all year long.  It's called Reach for the Stars.  I cannot take credit for coming up with this game but I did re-create and change the game sheet just a little.  

It's a partner game where the students need two dice.  Partner 1 rolls both dice and adds them together - then colors a box on their side of the game board that matches the answer (ie. if they roll a 3 and 1 they color in a 4 box).  Then it's Partner 2's turn.  The first person to reach a star in the middle wins!  I have them continue to play to try and fill up the remaining squares.

They absolutely LOVE this game.  They love that they get to work with a partner and that they can use markers or crayons to color in their boxes instead of pencils (which we always use in math).

Here's a free copy.  Hope you enjoy using it in your room!

First few days . . .

We have officially been back for 8 days now and things are in full swing!  We have a GREAT group of Firsties this year and I am having a lot of fun getting to know all of them!

We started off the first days by learning the rules with David.  The kids love this story and always do a nice job coming up with rules to teach David.  

(See my post on it from last year for info on where I got the craftivity).

          

Daily 5 has started off really well this year.  About half of the class did it last year so they already know the routine.  We started with Read to Self and just today practiced Read to Someone.  I know that I go out of order from what the book says - but this seems to make the most sense for my little group of kiddos.  

To start off, I give them two books from Reading A-Z (my school has a subscription) that I know are within their independent level.  Once they are ready to start picking books on their own we read, Goldie Socks and the Three Libearians by Jackie Mims Hopkins.

This the perfect story for a mini-lesson on finding your 'Just Right' book.

And, finally, because we have had a couple of long days with no specials: GoNoodle!

I'm sorry, but I can't think of anything better than watching a bunch of kids dance together without a care in the world.  They absolutely love brain breaks!